Inevitable
by delusionalklaroliner
Summary: AU-ish. dark!Klaroline. Klaus has to decide between sacrificing himself to the witches and Caroline's life. In his hesitation, Caroline decides for him. What happens when the girl he thought he lost forever suddenly becomes his most dangerous enemy? Heavy Greek mythos undertones. Rated M for future chapters.
1. P R O L O G U E

**So this is my new fic idea, and I really hope you enjoy! It will be dark!Klaroline, with some additional pairings- you will find those out later (:**

**As for now, this is the prologue, and if you're confused at the end of it, that is the desired result (:**

_**Special thanks to klaroline-fantasies, hurrican3lov3 and klaraholic for their input and pure amazingness 3**_

* * *

_From within the realm of Chaos, lay festering the womb of Night._

_She, this primeval creator, bore unto the world Gods and Daemons alike._

_Thanatos, Nemesis, and Hypnos plagued the lives of Men, and fell them like flies._

_Fear shrouded their names, these children called Death, Retribution and Dreams._

_But above all, the Mother of Darkness gave to Her realm the Keres and the Moira_

_Down the dead would go, deep into the bowels of Tartarus, where the Death Daimons lay,_

_Jubilant as they sucked blood from vein. But these are not the daughters to tremble before._

_The Moiria- Fates of all creatures, Mortal and God, are not paid enough penance,_

_These Three with the Thread. Mortality and Fangs and Fire strike fear with such ease,_

_But Fear is deserved to only three and three alone: Clotho, Atropos, and Lachesis._

_As it is woven into law by the Three themselves: The day will come when Fate arrives_

_In the world, suddenly Seen. All Creatures will follow the thread down what is to pass,_

_And stand before The Fates and tremble at Atropos' feet as she raises her blade high._

_The Inevitable they call her, and you will feel it in your bones: Fate is upon you._

* * *

The day was etched into her memory for the rest of Time- she knew this to be true, because to know was her birthright.

Since the first moment she was dispensed from Creation, she had known. The day would come when the Heathen Gods would lock her and her sisters within The Pit alongside the ensnared forms of the behemoths that came Before.

Eons she spent, watching the pattern in the Thread as it arrived before her, foolishly hoping her sisters would some how change all she had known. How does one come to terms with such betrayal?

When it finally happened, she feigned surprise, urging her sisters to play along: she had Seen the Light and knew what was to come. Time, she had urged, was all they needed.  
Yet the Keepers of Past and Present were not looking ahead- and how could they?

So with a fury so immense as to rival those of the name, Clotho and Lachesis fought for freedom against The Usurpers. How dare they challenge Fate, they screamed through their bindings, hissing and clawing the duration of the Fall.

But not Atropos.

Not a sound left her as they tore her into oblivion, sending her back to where Nyx had carried her and her kin until Night became as is. Her strength was preserved, if not scattered, while that of her sisters was diminished: she could not hear them in the Void.

As she smouldered with the flow of the Phlegethon, her path became clear: the One That Is Two would herald her into the World of Men again and she would bring forth a Reaping so fruitful, the Earth would run bare.

Oh, but his birth and death would come painstakingly slow, but she would, through her will, give unto him the One of Many Faces whose Life would be his Death, his Rebirth and his Ascension.

In the fleeting moment before Nonexistence took over, She had seen the day when her feet would walk above Hades and she would find them all- even her siblings the daimon Kere with their taste for blood- to be tattered loose ends. Her vengeance would be witnessed in the their fear reflected from the glint in her scythe: her Abhorred Shears would not be used to cut the loose ends they made- when the weapon she wanted was that of Death in Name.

And then she would Possess the man made for Her- for only His form would suffice Her Existence- for she was Forever.

They would rue the day they tried to escape Fate.

* * *

Surprise had Caroline's eyes the size of saucers: so far this was not how she was expecting to spend her Wednesday morning.

Yet, here she was, struggling to keep up with Klaus as he ran beside her.

Not even ten minutes ago he had shown up at her dorm, all but dislocating her arm in his attempt to get her to follow him. She would have fought, if not for the absolute terror on his face.

"So you're saying that these witches want you to sacrifice yourself to the Otherside… while you're still alive? Why?"

The hybrid before her nodded in time with the pounding of their feet, "they want to exterminate the abominable hybrid from this world and ruin any chance of me continuing the species.."

He held her hand firmly in his and Caroline wasn't going to argue over it, suddenly glad she had something to hold onto. Now that she knew what to fear, the sinking feeling in her gut only grew.

"I need you safe," he quipped as they neared his a clearing in the woods, slowing to a halt. "And I need to think about where we can go."

Caroline stood to the side, trembling as he paced before her, his eyes constantly darting to the surrounding foliage, alert for any danger.

"Klaus, you're scaring me," she finally blurted.

His eyes connected with hers and he was before her so quickly, she felt the leaves around her stir in his wake. "You should be scared Caroline. If anything happened to you…"

A shaky hand hovered alongside her face, as if desperate to reassure her and himself that she was okay. She was lost in his eyes, struggling to find something witty or dismissive to say to make the situation a little less overwhelming. The leaves swirled between them-

"Wait," she broke his gaze and focused on what was going on around them. "Klaus…."

Panic gripped her tight as the wind picked up around them, increasing in intensity with each passing second. The gale roared around them and debris sliced at their skin.

Klaus pulled her into him in an attempt to shield her from the onslaught, "Show yourselves!"

His challenge was lost in the din, but was not unheard.

Out of nowhere, twenty- thirty witches materialized before them.

"I didn't know they could do that," the blonde squeaked, shrinking further into the safety of Klaus's chest.

As one, the witches began to speak:

_"We spin our life thread so that it becomes the Foundation of our life._

_We measure our thread to Glorify our life._

_We exercise our Power of choice to cut the thread when we should do so._

_Our true Greatness is the understanding of necessity._

_Our Knowledge averts the terrible process of a rigid fate."_

"It is time, hybrid," a voice sounded over the mantra, "come willingly or we will destroy everything you hold dear, starting with her." As the woman spoke a dark glow grew in the air between the two factions: the portal to the Otherside. How were they performing such powerful magic?

All thirty sets of eyes shifted focus onto her and the chanting grew more frantic and Caroline knew their time was running out. Fear clutched her vocal chords as she dug her nails into his arms, desperately trying to come up with a plan.

The witches had trapped them here, giving Klaus a choice: either sacrifice himself to the Otherside or they would kill everyone he loved.

They would kill her, she had realized early on, but the stakes were too high for her to care.

He could not give in to their demands. If he succumbed to an eternity being undead in the Otherside, the witches would subsequently commit vampire genocide, killing countless people who did not deserve such a fate.

"I have to stop this, Caroline," he roared at her over the cacophony, his eyes welling with tears as he spoke.

No. No. No. No. She couldn't let him die. She couldn't let him destroy himself all because he loved her.

"Now is not the time to be selfless, Klaus."

"On the contrary, I'm being incredibly selfish here, love. They can't hurt you."

He had her face between his hands, forgoing tenderness and digging his fingers into the flesh of her cheeks, so distraught was he to get his point across. He could not let her die.

"I'm sorry Klaus, but I can't let you do that."

Caroline placed a kiss on his lips, trying to memorize the taste and feel of him. Briefly, she hated herself for fighting him for so long. Aside from this kiss, she would never get to experience loving him. Right then and there, she would have traded everything to have been his. But she would at least get this much.

The euphoria of that realization brought tears to her eyes as the weight of her next actions meant hit her: one life was less than whatever number made up his lineage.

"I'm so sorry," she screamed, apologizing for making him wait, for giving him a taste of her only to end it before his eyes.

Shoving him aside, she darted for the glowing portal before them.

The last thing she heard was his voice. What he said was lost on her, but it broke her heart as she was broken apart by the energy of the Otherside.

* * *

She did not belong in this realm and it lashed out at her; burning her skin worse than vervain, peeling back the layers of her skin and exposing her to the dark magic that festered there. The black energy coursed through her veins like lava, smoldering within her bones as she screamed into the void.

There was no sound as her lungs burst with the force of her pain. Time operated at a different pace in this realm, she knew, but eternity ran it's course before the pain finally subsided into a dull ache.

Her eyes glowed the color of old blood as she hung there, suspended in the space between life and death, fading quickly. The inky black that had invaded her body thrummed from within her, pleased with the adjustments it had made to her form.

The spirits of the Otherside had needed a vessel, and if they could not have the Hybrid, the once-vampire before them would do just fine.

Red light seeped through the cracks of her skin, as she cooled into the being she now was. The still-alive bloodsucker that she used to be was not fit for this place, but the entity she had been reborn as was vibrant in the dark- she belonged now.

_Atropos,_ a thousand voices, harsh with disuse, roared around her.

The girl with a heart of gold and light the likes of which rivaled Helios, did not respond, for dead things do not listen.

The creature that had been summoned flared into existence, countless red threads bursting from her and disappearing in a flash. The being stirred, a red glow, straight from the depths of the Phlegethon permeating around her

_Atropos,_ the voices sighed at her realization, _it is time to reign again._

A long-handled scythe appeared before the woman embodying The Fate.

With the hesitancy of a newborn, her hand reached out to grab the handle.


	2. Chapitre Une

**A/N: Hello darlings! So here's a little background into the mythos of the story, before we get into it:**

The Fates: Greek deities. Three sisters that controlled what has happened, what is happening, and what is to come. Each sister has her own "tense" so to speak. Clotho, the weaver, deciding what paths crossed; Lachesis, the one deciding the length; Atropos, the one that sees Fate into fruition and makes it so.

Nyx: Primordial Goddess, she is Night. Mother of The Fates, Death, the Kere (blood daimons: in this instance the vampires).

**This chapter is solely Klaus. Then the real fun will begin.**

**Be warned: I had an extremely hard time writing this, having to step away from my computer many times I was so emotional over it haha. I have never spent more time trying to make a chapter work, and I hope it shows.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

With this I have no way, and in consequence want no sight  
I've tried my hardest to forget every connection  
Always being the blind villain

-One Day Woman Will All Become Monsters, Chiodos.

* * *

Fourteen days.

A part of his mind tried to recall just how exactly he slaughtered the witches… how he got from watching the only good thing in his life disappear before his eyes… to this… this hell. The smell was what made him leave the clearing- he needed to remember her scent. The fresh lavender that clung to her had grown stale and the decaying corpses threatened to overwhelm her.

Hearts littered the ground around him and his head hung low, as if trying to spot his among the group.

But he wouldn't find it there.

A shaky breath left him as he looked towards where she had dove into oblivion. His throat was still raw and lacerated from screaming her name- as if his voice had the power to stop her.

She was gone.

It was all he could do to catch himself as he fell to the ground. His body shook with the pain of knowing this world was now without her- that he was now without her.

There was nothing he could do.

There was nothing he could have done.

He had saved her once… he had been able to save her. But now he stared at the red-tinged ground and could not gather any reassurance in that fact. He should have let her die then and there, saving himself from just how terrible it was to love someone that could no longer receive it!

The agony threatened to overwhelm him, clawing it's way from the deepest recesses of his heart and lodging in his throat, suffocating him.

So Klaus ran, praying that he could run fast enough to outrun this horrible reality and go back to where her lips were on his-

A growl precluded his canines dropping to fangs, letting the wolf in him take over. The thought of her sent his mind reeling from one form to another, leaving his body struggling to catch up. It was the fastest he had ever shifted, yet the pain of the transformation did nothing to assuage the torment that still held captive his heart. Where two feet had tread, four now beat through the underbrush, leaving the tattered remains of his clothes swirling behind.

The man was more beast than human, but his human side still shone through as a wolf. If he had hoped to escape the black hole drowning him as he passed a trail she must have walked once, her scent still permeating, he was a fool as well.

Every muscle burned within the animal Klaus was, desperate for his mate, not understanding why the blonde was not at his side. Instinct had has jaws mashing as he ran, all fours pounding the earth for punishing him to run it alone.

He let out a mournful growl, his tail between his legs, and blind fury morphed into utter despair as the wolf ran and ran, still not finding the woman who called to him.

He struggled to focus on bloodlust, but terror and heartbreak welled at the back of his tongue until he could no longer fight back the howl that erupted from his jowls.

The world was silent as the last note died, having done its job to creep down the spine of hikers in the woods a mile away. Not even the spider in the tree above spun its web. The whole world listened to the cries of the wolf as he whimpered on the forest floor.

Another howl emanated from him- this one a curse to the moon, for daring to shine down on him when his light was nowhere to be found.

* * *

Hours later he stumbled blindly across that group of six hikers surrounding a campfire, its light mocking him. No longer in wolf form, and uncaring that he was exposed, Klaus lunged for the nearest human, ripping his throat out. The hybrid watched with dead eyes as blood gurgled in his mouth and the life died from his eyes.

There would be no life here.

Without pause, Klaus leaped after the two mean nearest him, sinking his nails into the back of their necks, gripping the vertebrae there and slowly applying pressure until their screams faded into nothing. Before the others could get far, the Original grabbed one of the skewers beside the fire, a marshmallow still adorning the tip, and flung it at the retreating form of a sobbing brunette.

It pierced her back, sliding through her liver and out through her abdomen. Her knees hit the floor, a weak arm catching her before she slammed face first to the ground. Klaus meandered over to her, absentmindedly watching the blood pool beneath her hunched form.

"Shh," he murmured softly, kneeling in front of her and smoothing a hand over her hair. Her sobs grew more insistent and she grew taught for a moment before rigors raked through her.

"I was hoping you'd beg," he sighed, snapping her neck.

Yellow swirled in his irises and the remaining hikers started for the safety of the woods. He walked towards one of the tents, fumbling around until he found a pair of jeans. Silent hands secured the pants around his waist as he listened to the humans' feeble attempts at silence.

A sick grin contorted his somber expression, and Klaus followed the steady thrumming of the nearest heart. A mocha skinned girl cowered behind a tree.

"You should have kept running," he sneered, utterly disgusted at how easy this way.

"Pl-please-" A hand shot out to grab her heart, feeling the organ pulsate and tremor in his grasp.

"Does it hurt?" There was an emotional lilt to his voice that Klaus did not like.

She jerked her head forward, no sound coming from her but a lifeless squeak.

He pulled his arm out from her chest cavity, clutching the heart. "At least you no longer have to feel such an affliction."

A muffled gasp sounded behind him. Slowly, the hybrid turned to see the last of his prey, huddling underneath a fallen log. Her blonde hair was matted with leaves, and he smelled fresh blood coming from a scrape on her knee.

He would drain the body of vitality. He would not be the only empty one.

In a flash, he had the girl pinned by the neck, gripping her jaw so tightly that the bone groaned under his strength. But he could not bring himself to pierce her flesh with his fangs.

With a frustrated growl, he tossed the whimpering female to the ground, feeling no joy in the crack he heard, or the sudden silence as no more beating came from within her chest. Klaus was panting: all he wanted was to sink his teeth into something and destroy it. Why could he not?

Molten ire burned through his senses when he noticed the platinum locks now splayed across the earth. A fresh onslaught of distress gripped him and he lunged at the golden tresses, burying them beneath the topsoil.

Panic consumed him. Pacing, he gripped his head, willing himself to focus long enough to kill something. He had to kill something to feel better, to feel like himself. It was the only way to feel like himself again. But he could not shake the fractured desolation eating him alive.

For centuries he had been able to work through his emotions with blood and rage, but he could not pull himself together long enough to lose himself to senseless rampage. Through the hysteria he recognized that this was not something he could diminish with mindless slaughter. He could not block out the melancholy like he had in the past.

Something vital had died in him when she did.

* * *

Hours later, Klaus had found himself retracing the path he had took to her bedroom, willing himself to see her when he opened the door. He would see her lying there, and it would be okay.

He felt her absence in the stale space and could not muster the strength to rise from her room.

He felt the hunger ache in his gums, so desperate was he for blood, but he did not stir.

Seventeen days he spent, savouring the taste of her on his lips, pleading with his body to keep the shadow of it grafted to his body. He would desicate before he forgot how she fit against him, finally succmbing to her emotions. Blood nor booze would ruin what he had left of her.

Oh how he hated her! His heart lamented and cursed her for taking the best part of him with her when she jumped into that inky black void. If there had been even a split second of hesitation in her eyes he would have snapped her neck before she could do this to him.

God, how he tried to remember her before that day, but he could not breathe without her petrified face haunting him- and how he welcomed it! He would take every disapproving glance and snide comment and even her fear, and he would suffer through it, always.

He was not strong enough to picture her with a smile.

But how could he not? Her life was the sun chasing night from the sky- it was the warmth of a flame in winter. She was meant for life, not him! The world had a gaping chasm the shape of his heart where she had once thrived.

She would have dealt with him not existing. She would have prevailed.

He felt himself panicking, unable to try and muster the courage to put into words what he had witnessed. No nightmare or paranoid musing prepared him for the reality was trapped in. Not even her almost dying on that couch had prepared him for this.

There were no more tears coming from his eyes as, yet again, he found himself curling into the fetal position- feebly trying hold himself together. But it was her bed and he could fall apart safely there, knowing that she had fallen apart here so many times and climbed out better the next day. But the days had passed and he felt his resolve fading. She would yell at him and convince him to stop being so miserable. He would listen to her if he could hear her over the overwhelming silence that rang in his ears instead.

Maybe if he just stayed there, his guilt would somehow kill him. And then he would be with her. If he could not have her in life, he would have her in death….

A sob sprung from his stomach, ripping his throat as it fled him:

She was dead.

Caroline was gone and there was nothing he could do to stop a thousand years of repressed emotion and a love that ravaged him and bruised him. He had been such a fool all those millennia ago: love was not his greatest weakness. No, love was stronger than he and all he was able to do was let it destroy him.

The pattering of feet drew him from his stupid, and before he could react the bedroom door was opening. Liz's confused face greeted him, "I didn't know you were home, Caroline…." Her eyes narrowed, anger replacing the confusion. But then she took him in. "Klaus. What are you… what happened?" The current appearance of the normally impeccable and smirking Original was something Liz had never before imagined. She heard the fear in her own voice, because there was only one explanation for the broken man sitting on her daughters bed.

His mind whirled as he tried to think of what he had to say, but each attempt to put the truth to words was another blow to the hybrid's already crippled heart. But he had to find the right way to say it…. he had to take the bitter taste from his mouth as he spoke. Because he had to say it.

Tears pooled in Klaus's eyes and he shrugged in defeat, pausing when no sound left his mouth. He closed his eyes and let his hands fall to his sides, trying valiantly to get through this.

Liz didn't need to hear the words, describing her daughter's demise, and Klaus was not strong enough to say them. They locked eyes and he knew she knew why he was here.

"I couldn't save her."


End file.
